ANTIQUE MARBLES. 13T 



portant changes of the earth's surface that have probably occurred during 

 the entire Tertiary period ; and of the influence of these changes, in bring- 

 ing about the general features, as well as many of the more interesting de- 

 tails and puzzling anomalies of the G-eographical Distribution of Animals. 



MINERALOGY. 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 



!N"othing more forcibly attests the imperial power and magnificence of 

 Eome, at the height of her glory, than the fragments of precious marble 

 which almost every excavation among her ruins brings to sight. Even if 

 her history were lost to us, these varied bits of stone would tell in language 

 stronger than words the story of her universal dominion, when her ships 

 sought every clime, and every land paid tribute to her luxury. This piece 

 reflects the glowing suns of Numidia, that the green of Tempe's Yale; this 

 was quarried on Pentelicus, this in storied Chios, and these tell of Grallic 

 . and of Hispanic conquest. Many have a double history, having served to 

 decorate some forum or temple of the Bast before its spoliation by a Mum- 

 mius or a Sulla. 



Toward the end of the second century b. c. the Eomans, who had be- 

 come conversant with Greek art through their conquests, began to appre- 

 ciate sculptures and precious marbles, and from that time onward almost 

 every captured city was rifled of its treasures. Net only were all the 

 quarries of the world put under contribution, but statues, columns and capi- 

 tals, clabs, pavements, and sometimes entire edifices, were transported to , 

 Rome. Carthage, from the time of its destruction, furnished an almost in- 

 exhaustible supply. Edrisi, the Arab geographer of the twelfth century, 

 says that marbles of so many different species were found among its ruins 

 that it would be impossible to describe them. Blocks thirty feet high and 

 sixty-three inches in diameter, and columns thirty feet in circumference, 

 were taken out. 



A large fleet of vessels was employed solely in transporting marbles, 

 and slaves or freedmen were stationed in the various ports from which they 

 were sent, who were charged with the duty of keeping account of the num- 

 ber, quality, and date of shipment of all stones. In 1868, excavations on 

 the banks of the Tiber brought to light the ancient marmorata, or marble- 

 wharf, where these vessels landed their cargoes. Many blocks of precious 

 colored marbles were exhumed here, some of colossal proportions. One of 

 yellow African marble was twenty-seven feet long by five and a half feet 

 wide, and weighed thirty-four tons. Another, sent from a then newly- 



